What's the best free way to copy text from a screenshot on Windows?

Windows 11 Snipping Tool's Text Actions, or PowerToys Text Extractor (Win+Shift+T). Both are free and built/backed by Microsoft.

Does Windows have built-in OCR?

Yes — the Windows 11 Snipping Tool can extract text from a snip, and PowerToys adds a region extractor. For plain text they're plenty.

Why use Snip2Field instead of a free OCR tool?

When the text is financial data: it detects field types and validates IBAN checksums so you don't paste a wrong account number, and it runs offline. For arbitrary text, the free tools are fine.

Does region OCR work offline?

Snip2Field and Capture2Text run locally. Some tools call a cloud service — check before using one on sensitive documents.

Copy Text from a Screenshot on Windows: the OCR Tools Compared

Updated June 2026 · ~5 min read

You've got text trapped in an image — a screenshot, a scan, a video frame, a PDF you can't select — and you need it as real, pasteable text. The fix is region OCR: draw a box over the text and a tool reads it. Windows has more options than people realise, several of them free. Here's what to use and when.

Snip2Field is a Windows region-OCR tool aimed at finance and admin data: hotkey, drag a box over an IBAN, amount, date or invoice number anywhere on screen, and it detects the field type, validates IBAN checksums, copies the result, and works fully offline.

What is region OCR?

Instead of converting a whole file, region OCR reads just the rectangle you select on screen and puts the text on your clipboard. It works on anything visible — apps, images, PDFs, remote-desktop windows — because it reads pixels, not the file. That makes it the quickest way to grab one line or number.

Built in & free — Snipping Tool + PowerToys

Windows 11's Snipping Tool now has a "Text Actions" button that extracts text from any snip. Microsoft's free PowerToys adds Text Extractor (press Win+Shift+T, drag a box, text is copied). Both are excellent general-purpose options and cost nothing — if you just need arbitrary text now and then, start here.

Free & niche — Capture2Text / Text Grab

Capture2Text and Text Grab are small free tools with extra languages and tweaks. Handy if you OCR non-Latin scripts or want a lighter standalone app, though they're less polished than the Microsoft options.

When the text is structured data — Snip2Field

General OCR tools give you raw text and stop there. Snip2Field is built for the finance/admin case: it recognises the field type (IBAN, amount, date, invoice number), validates IBAN checksums so you never paste a wrong account number, and is fully offline. If that's your job, the difference matters — see copying an IBAN from a PDF.

Press the hotkey (Ctrl+Shift+P).
Drag a box over the text or number.
It reads it, detects the field type, and copies it.

Snip2Field reading a number off the screen and copying it

Region-OCR tools for Windows at a glance
Tool	Free	Offline	Field detection	IBAN checksum	Best for
Windows Snipping Tool	✓	✓	✗	✗	Quick plain text
PowerToys Text Extractor	✓	✓	✗	✗	General region OCR
Capture2Text	✓	✓	✗	✗	Extra languages, niche
Snip2Field	Trial, $14	✓	✓ IBAN/amount/date	✓	Invoice / finance data

The thing general OCR tools don't do: They'll happily give you an IBAN with a digit misread and you won't know. Snip2Field checks the ISO 13616 checksum and refuses to silently hand you a number it couldn't verify — the difference between a tool and a tool you can trust with payments.

Offline: Snip2Field does the OCR on your machine — no upload, no account, no cloud. Good when you're grabbing data off documents that shouldn't leave your computer.

Working from PDFs specifically? See extracting text from a scanned PDF and copying invoice data without retyping.

OCR built for numbers, not just text

Snip an IBAN, amount or date off any screen — field-detected, checksum-verified, offline.

Try Snip2Field free

7-day free trial · $14 once · Windows

FAQ

What's the best free way to copy text from a screenshot on Windows?: Windows 11 Snipping Tool's Text Actions, or PowerToys Text Extractor (Win+Shift+T). Both are free and built/backed by Microsoft.
Does Windows have built-in OCR?: Yes — the Windows 11 Snipping Tool can extract text from a snip, and PowerToys adds a region extractor. For plain text they're plenty.
Why use Snip2Field instead of a free OCR tool?: When the text is financial data: it detects field types and validates IBAN checksums so you don't paste a wrong account number, and it runs offline. For arbitrary text, the free tools are fine.
Does region OCR work offline?: Snip2Field and Capture2Text run locally. Some tools call a cloud service — check before using one on sensitive documents.